William Harryman

"Bill Caudle, 39, enlisted in the Army so that he could get health insurance help pay for his wife's ovarian cancer treatment, reports Mark Johnson of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Bill was laid off from his job at a plastics company in March, where he had worked for 20 years, and searched for a new job for a few months before signing up so that his wife and high school sweetheart, Michelle, would be guaranteed chemotherapy. On their own, the Caudles' insurance cost them $1,370 each month, which they could not afford on Michelle's part-time salary at a fast food restaurant. The four-year commitment means Bill will miss all of his youngest daughter's four years of high school. Chelsea, the daughter, cried when her mother told her. Bill left for processing and basic training October 6. The next day, once he was officially processed, his Army health coverage started." - William Harryman from Bookmarklet

Sucks worse that the Obama administration (which itself sucks) has implemented policies that have cost millions of people like Bill their jobs so that they have to turn to desperate alternatives. At least Bill had a workable option. As somebody who lost their school sweetheart to cancer, I'm sure he's grateful for it. Good for him for doing whatever it takes to take care of his family. - Dawn

"Welcome! The Empty Bell is a sanctuary for the study and practice of Christian meditation and prayer. Our purpose is to learn about the history and practice of the Christian contemplative way as rooted in the Gospels, and to explore its common ground with other ancient Wisdom teachings. We give special attention to the Christian-Buddhist dialogue, to artistic expression of spiritual insight, and to the relationship between spirituality and stewardship of our bio-diverse natural world." - William Harryman from Bookmarklet

"One way to think of all these tears is as a flood of love. Liberated from its object, love now flows freely, powerfully, mercilessly, as rain, as sorrow, and as longing. When your heart is broken, it is broken open and in some sense your limitations in love have been removed. All the love you had for a particular person is still there but instead of attaching to an object, it floats freely. It is groundless and without reference point. Through one lens, this is a supremely painful situation. It is. But through another, it is something else. I won’t say that this something else is pleasurable, but it is real. It is real and raw and very deep and even if you don’t want it to be this way (you’d rather your love had an object), it is. And now that you’re here, up to your neck with love unbound, you could try to do something with it. Because although it doesn’t feel good, it is very, very precious. In fact it is wild and deep and basically unmanageable. This is your heart. Freed of the... more... - William Harryman from Bookmarklet

"How we start our morning influences our entire day. Some of the fortunate, disciplined and/or devoted among us manage to start with meditation, yoga or some small ritual to ground the day in mindful awareness. But most of us simply hope to take care of the needs of children, partners and pets with a minimum of stress, not gulp down breakfast and be organized enough to rush out the door without leaving anything behind. Even if we’re single or work at home, we spin our way into the chaos of the day far too rapidly. From my experience, the influence of the day begins in our firsts fluttering moments between sleep and waking. When the alarm clock goes off, with one foot still in dream land and the other slipping out of bed to touch the floor, we’re in a supremely subtle and impressionable state." - William Harryman from Bookmarklet

"Zenyatta beat the boys in the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic on Saturday, running her record to 14-0 in the most impressive effort of her career. The 5-year-old mare rallied from last in the early going and fought off Gio Ponti in the stretch to win by a length at Santa Anita, beating a loaded field of 11 males and becoming the first female to win the Classic in its 26-year history. Quality Road was scratched at the starting gate after he acted up and scraped his hind leg, delaying the start by several minutes. That may have explained Zenyatta's poor start as she broke from the gate on the wrong foot and trailed early in the race. Ridden by Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith, Zenyatta still ran 1 1/4 miles in 2:00.62 and paid $7.60, $5.60 and $3.80 as the 5-2 wagering favorite of the 58,845 fans." - William Harryman from Bookmarklet

"Here's the truth, Maj. Hasan is a man with significant mental illness. A mentally ill man who found easy access to a gun, and who subsequently had easy access to use it on innocent people. The focus on Maj. Hasan's reasons for the shootings takes away from the psychological ramifications around the rampant availability of guns in our society. So before some of us pretend that if "Maj Hasan hadn't being a Muslim extremist none of this would have happened," let us not forget that in the past decade, the media has being filled with stories, about disgruntled human beings, walking into crowded areas and killing people, with hand guns and assault rifles. An eye for an eye, for an eye, for an eye, is dis-empowering to our collective psyche in regards to being able to resolve conflicts. As a former soldier stationed in Fort Hood and a former resident of Killeen TX, I can testify first hand that Killeen has one of the most highest rates of violent crime in the country. This incident while... more... - William Harryman from Bookmarklet

"To Write Love on Her Arms is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery." - William Harryman

"Leaders of the vibrant Muslim community here expressed outrage on Friday at the shooting rampage being laid to one of their members, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who had become a regular attendee of prayers at the local mosque. But some of the men who had befriended Major Hasan at the mosque said the military should examine the policies that might have caused him to snap. “When a white guy shoots up a post office, they call that going postal,” said Victor Benjamin II, 30, a former member of the Army. “But when a Muslim does it, they call it jihad. “Ultimately it was Brother Nidal’s doing, but the command should be held accountable,” Mr. Benjamin said. “G.I.’s are like any equipment in the Army. When it breaks, those who were in charge of keeping it fit should be held responsible for it.”" - William Harryman from Bookmarklet

"As Washington reels from the news of 10.2 percent unemployment, the Center for Responsive Politics is out with a new report describing the wealth of members of Congress. Among the highlights: Two-hundred-and-thirty-seven members of Congress are millionaires. That's 44 percent of the body - compared to about 1 percent of Americans overall. CRP says California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa is the richest lawmaker on Capitol Hill, with a net worth estimated at about $251 million. Next in line: Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), worth about $244.7 million; Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), worth about $214.5 million; Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), worth about $209.7 million; and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), worth about $208.8 million. All told, at least seven lawmakers have net worths greater than $100 million, according to the Center's 2008 figures." - William Harryman from Bookmarklet

"Among executive branch officials, CRP says the richest is Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman Mary L. Schapiro, with a net worth estimated at $26 million. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is next, worth an estimated $21 million. President Barack Obama is the sixth-wealthiest, worth about an estimated $4 million. Vice President Joe Biden has often tagged himself as an original blue collar man. The CRP backs him up, putting his net worth at just $27,000." - William Harryman

"He's hardly the worst off. Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.), freshman Rep. Harry Teague (D-N.M.), Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.), Rep. John Salazar (D-Colo.) and Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.) each a net worth of less than zero, CRP says. One caveat on those numbers: Federal financial disclosure laws don't require members to list the value of their personal residences. That information could... more... - William Harryman

"Less than five months after graduating from Bayshore High School, 18-year-old Henry Doyle returned to his lowly alma mater Monday a wise and conquering college freshman. "I'm back, Bayshore High," Doyle announced as he pulled his mother's Toyota Camry slowly into the parking lot normally reserved for faculty, emerging with a knowing grin. "Bet you never thought you'd see the likes of me again!" After pausing to behold any students who might have taken notice of his momentous arrival, Doyle determined that many were too intimidated to say hello or even look in his general direction, so he marched indoors." - William Harryman from Bookmarklet

"According to sources, the Nova Southeastern University freshman spent the next two hours striding like a Roman general through the halls of his former school, smiling at distracted teachers, nodding at confused members of the janitorial staff, and leaning back against the school's trophy case for nearly 25 minutes. "Some of the kids who don't know who I am will probably just think I'm... more... - William Harryman

"When negative emotions are strong they tend to overpower you; you could never take suggestions, never be able to apply an antidote. You need time and space. First, find out if you’re willing to see whether your anger is valid or not valid. If you are not willing to see that, then take a break. Walk outside. Got to a nice place when there’s a beautiful view. Divert your attention through something neutral, like nature. In Tibet, many of my teachers liked to go up on a high mountain overlooking the valley, the river, and the mountains. They let their disturbing thoughts fly away—if they had them at all—and took in the fresh air. Certain traditions even recommend that you watch the sunset from a slightly high vantage point, stand lightly, bouncing gently on your toes. Breathe out gently three, nine, or twenty-one times, using breath as a vehicle to carry your thoughts away. Let your heavy thoughts go with the setting sun and bid them goodbye. - Rimpoche Nawang Gehlek, from “The Real Enemy,” Tricycle, Winter 2001" - William Harryman from Bookmarklet

great advice - echostreamer

"As David Case explains in a superb article on BPA, "In the United States, industrial chemicals are presumed safe until proven otherwise. As a result, the vast majority of the 80,000 chemicals registered to be used in products have never undergone a government safety review. Companies are left largely to police themselves." As Case points out, more than 90% of the more than 100 independently-funded studies of BPA has found that it has adverse effects on humans, but not one of the industry-funded studies has found anything to worry about. That's not to say that industry studies are intentionally fraudulent. It's simply hard to find results that make your employers unhappy. As Upton Sinclair used to say, "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."" - William Harryman from Bookmarklet

Salary can also be replaced with "self image" and "world view" - Todd Hoff

most definitely, Todd - William Harryman

"Although most athletic skills and events depend upon a variety of physical qualities, speed strength (also called power) certainly rates among the most important. Whenever you need to accelerate yourself (as in running, cycling, swimming, skating, or skiing), an external object (such as a ball, a barbell, a javelin, or another person), or both (such as pushing a bobsled or driving through an opposing lineman in football), your ability to generate force with speed will be a primary determinant of your success. As the duration of the event or skill becomes reduced, the need for speed strength (I’ll abbreviate it as “SS” from this point on) increases. However, even triathletes rely heavily upon explosive strength as they sprint to the finish line. It’s not a matter of whether or not you need to develop SS, but to what degree you need to prioritize it in your training." - William Harryman from Bookmarklet

"That Gladwell's most recent blockbuster monograph, Outliers: The Story of Success, actually purported to be about success only accelerated the vicious cycle of maddening self-reference, begging as it did a critical Gladwellian case study of Gladwell's own "success." The book's premise can be distilled to a single sentence: success is the result of many variables, most of which lie outside the control of a particular individual. Gladwell illustrates this point through various anecdotes and case studies that teach us a great many things we already know. For instance, hard work and education are important. Also: Culture Matters. Know Thyself. Practice Makes Perfect. Or, in the words of the Observer's Alexandra Jacobs, Outliers is about "how super-achievers like--well, like Malcolm Gladwell!--get where they are." And sure enough, in The New York Times Book Review, David Leonhardt took the bait, writing a brief alternative history of Gladwell's life crediting said "success" to his... more... - William Harryman from Bookmarklet

"Is it better to be a happy pig or sad Socrates? How should one choose between happiness and other values, such as wisdom, morality, and piety? You have an angel on one shoulder, the devil on the other — who do you listen to? One of the insights of modern happiness research is that these are questions we often don’t have to answer. While happiness can clash with other ideals, the surprising finding is how often they go together. One usually doesn’t have to decide, for instance, whether to be happy or to be good. We are constituted so that simple acts of kindness, such as giving to charity or expressing gratitude, have a positive effect on our long-term moods. The key to the happy life, it seems, is the good life, a life with sustained relationships, challenging work, and connections to community. You can be happy Socrates." - William Harryman from Bookmarklet

"I suppose (or at least hope) that we all want to do the right thing but how do we decide what the right thing really is? We likely all have at least some vague principles that we follow to guide our decision making such as being honest, kind to others (or at least polite), and not stealing. Maybe our ethical principles can be well summarized by the Golden Rule (i.e., treat others as you wish to be treated). It sounds pretty good and reasonable too. Additionally, the Golden Rule is well articulated in all of the major religious traditions in one way or another according to the well known author, Karen Armstrong, in her book, The Great Transformation. However, as with most things, deciding what the right thing is tends to be more complicated than it might appear at first glance. Before we can figure out what the right thing is in any given circumstance, we have to have some framework for thinking ethical conflicts through. We need some structure beyond the black and white question, “Is... more... - William Harryman from Bookmarklet

"The cry of newborn babies may seem like nothing more than inescapable shrills, but they could be infants' first attempts to imitate the language they hear while in the womb. In a study published today in Current Biology, scientists found differences in the crying patterns of babies as early as two days after birth, depending on whether their mothers spoke French or German. Previous studies have reported that fetuses in their third trimester can learn aspects of their eventual native tongue, such as language rhythm and intonation. But, as of yet, there was only evidence that newborns incorporated these early language lessons into their own sounds starting at 12 weeks of age, when they typically start to babble and produce syllables." - William Harryman from Bookmarklet